For nearly four years, motorists veering off I-75 toward Marietta have been greeted by an unsightly unfinished building, a hulking steel skeleton rising three stories.
Perhaps not for long, though.
If demolition of the building at 555 Commerce Ave. goes as planned, it could signal the end of a protracted feud between the City Council and property owner Waleed "Lee" Jaraysi. Superior Court Judge Adele Grubbs ruled last week the city can proceed with razing the building.
"It's a shell of a building that has sat there unchanged," city attorney Doug Haynie said. "The owner has left the city no options. He has put forward no plan to complete the building."
Richard Capriola, a lawyer for Jaraysi, said Monday he will appeal the decision to the state Court of Appeals. The building, which is just off the South Loop, stalled because Jaraysi had trouble with financing when the economy went sour, but Jaraysi has invested $2 million in the project and intends to complete it, his attorney said.
"There's got to be a couple thousand stalled projects in Cobb County and for whatever reason the city has taken a very strong position with this one," Capriola said.
The project has been a contentious one from the beginning, court records showed. The city halted construction in 2005 when it became apparent Jaraysi was erecting a 24,000-square-foot building instead of the 8,000-square-foot wedding hall that was approved. Two years later, the city went to court to have the unfinished building declared unsafe and demolished.
After court-ordered mediation, the demolition suit was dropped in 2009 when both parties reached a settlement. The city approved rezoning that would allow a large office building to be constructed. However, Jaraysi did not resume building by June 25, 2010, as specified in the agreement. That prompted the latest round of litigation.
"That is the second or third agreement he has had with the city and the city is worried the building is never going to be built," Haynie said.
City officials this month voted to set aside $90,000 for the demolition. They would later recoup the expense by putting a lien on the property, Haynie said.
Grubbs upheld the existing consent agreement in court on Wednesday and will not interfere with demolition. However, city officials are delaying the wrecking ball to give Jaraysi's lawyers time to appeal.
The demolition can't come soon enough for Brian Noyes. Noyes heads the government and public affairs division of Brock Clay, a Marietta-based law firm that represents the adjacent Parkway Center office towers.
"For people coming from I-75, the first thing you are faced with is a monstrosity of a steel building that is in decay and has been for years," Noyes said. "It's discouraging for any business professional."
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